Unlike industry and agriculture, which were stable and smooth, the commerce industry, which had high hopes, fell short of expectations. The trade routes to be developed will not be effective in the short term. The top brass of the Perak Army are mentally prepared, but the three immature routes are not going well, which is unexpected. For commercial activities on the front lines of Meizhou and Jiading, since the Mongolian army occupied Pengshan City, every time a caravan passed through this section of water, it needed to be escorted by the Xinjin City navy. Since the navy trained by Liu Heima in Chengdu took shape, the pressure on convoys has increased. Yu Xing and his son have imposed heavy taxes on business travel, which is almost like robbery. Therefore, although doing business in the two places is highly profitable, in fact Not much.
Although the route from Yazhou to Dajianlu was extremely profitable, and there were resources such as fire, saltpeter, horses, copper, and mercury that the Pili Army urgently needed, the journey was far and dangerous. What's even more terrible is that a new group of bandits emerged between Yazhou and Lizhou during this period, burning, killing and looting everywhere. The original bandits were either beaten up by the armed caravans of the Perak Army, or were attracted by economic benefits. They chose to cooperate with the Perak Army and would not actively seek trouble. But this group of gangsters seemed to have a grudge against the Perak Army and never missed an opportunity to attack the Perak Army's caravan. A few days ago, Li Ganzi led a team to escort Huo Ni back to Qiongzhou, but was suddenly attacked by this group of ruthless bandits, killing and wounding more than ten of his men. This group of bandits even launched a surprise attack on the Pili Army's fire salt mine in Lizhou, but were repelled by Qian Bao.
The northern route of the tea-horse trade from Guankou Village to Wei and Mao prefectures was progressing smoothly, with large transaction volume and considerable profits. However, it failed to purchase horses, copper, saltpeter and other resources that the Perak Army urgently needed. On the one hand, without a suitable local agent, it is impossible to buy these controlled materials. The Ministry of Commerce and Trade also sent people to contact Uncle Xie Fang's tribe in Taoping, trying to find agents among the Xie family, but there was no result yet; on the other hand, after the Mongolian troops surrendered in these two states, the Mongols sent officials to station them. Here, although the number is small, the locals only dare to trade with the Perak Army secretly.
There is no important military situation during this period. It's just that the Mongolian army's rangers have never stopped sneaking into the country to conduct reconnaissance. Although the Perak Army controlled the river, its military strength was too small to closely monitor the river. Therefore, the Mongolian cavalry often sneaked across the river to harass them, which was already commonplace in the eyes of Cao Ergou and other brigade leaders. The question they are now concerned about is when the equipment will be in place. Cao Ergou first complained that the cavalry battalion had too few muskets, and then said that the two infantry battalions lacked artillery, carts for transporting baggage, and supporting mules and horses. In short, good equipment should be given priority to the field brigade. Yu Zhu had a strong view of the overall situation. Although he did not complain, he tactfully raised the issue of insufficient density of fortresses. Moreover, except for the teaching battalion, the firearms equipment rate of other companies in the garrison brigade is too low, and some companies only have two light artillery. There are soldiers in some militia companies and even basic companies who have never touched firearms.
Ouyang Xuan interrupted the complaint. He knew all these situations. He is not a dictatorial person, but the issues raised by Cao Ergou and others need time to be resolved. Increasing military production capacity is of course important, but this matter cannot be rushed. In his opinion, the most important thing at the moment is to tighten the defensive fence. During his trip to Diaoyu City, he encountered water bandits and the Mongolian navy, and learned that Liu Heima's navy almost defeated the Meizhou navy, which made him aware of the flaws in the defense strategy. It was originally thought that the water surface could be firmly controlled by artillery and warships, and that the Mongols could be helpless by relying on fortress artillery. However, the premise of this assumption was that the Mongolian army did not have a naval force, or was very weak. If the Mongolian navy and the Perak navy are equally matched or even stronger, how will the war develop? Thinking about the consequences made him shudder. Now it seems that the Pili Army and Navy are not as powerful as imagined, but on the contrary, the Mongolian navy is making rapid progress.
Ensuring the security of the current jurisdiction is the prerequisite for all development. Ouyang Xuan proposed three measures to strengthen defense and explained the reasons. No one had any objection to this. The first measure was to dredge the river. On the way back to Diaoyu City, due to the dry water in early winter, many riverbeds were exposed in many places. Some river sections even relied on manual pulling to enable boats to sail. Upon seeing this, Ouyang Xuan asked Huang Dagen about the hydrology of the river under the rule of the Pili Army. Although the Chengdu Plain is not too cold in winter and the rivers will not freeze, the water volume will drop a lot. The water volume in the upper reaches and tributaries of the rivers is even smaller, making it impossible for large ships to pass. For example, gunboats cannot operate in Guankou Village and Pujiang City when the water volume is at a minimum. Rivers such as the Nanhe River, Xiejiang River, Wenjing River, and Jinma River also have shallow shoals to varying degrees in winter, and you can even wade across the river. Only by widening and deepening these river sections to at least allow heavy artillery ships to pass can the Mongolian army be prevented from crossing the river easily and timely reinforcements be made to the cities and Wubao fortresses along the river.
The second measure is shipbuilding, building a large number of small and light ships. Previously, Ouyang Xuan was obsessed with "giant ships and artillery" and focused the construction of the navy on artillery warships. Although the effectiveness was obvious, the shortcomings of the heavy and slow gunboats were exposed when they were attacked by water bandits in Xuzhou, and they were easily approached by light warships. "An elephant is killed by many ants". Once it is attacked by a numerically superior enemy ship, the gunboat may be destroyed or even captured. These gunboats are expensive to build, and the price of one gun alone is worth the price of a small warship. Ouyang Xuan's idea is to build a large number of small, light warships for reconnaissance, patrol and escort. These small warships can be operated by as many as ten people or as small as two or three people. They can even be used for fishing. .
After Ouyang Xuan explained this measure, Huang Dagen proposed to equip some light ships with small cannons to increase their combat capabilities, which also won the support of everyone. The increase in ships will inevitably increase the number of sailors, but if the number of standing armies is increased, economic development will inevitably be squeezed. Ouyang Xuan's method was to convert the basic companies and militia companies near the river from infantry to navy. These part-time navy troops fish and farm on weekdays and undertake auxiliary tasks during wartime, which not only solves the problem of navy reserve personnel but also enhances the combat effectiveness of the garrison brigade.
The third measure is to build a fence. This so-called fence consisted of several parts. The first part was to build watchtowers where the enemy might cross the river. In addition to the pebbles and river sand dug out from the river for construction materials, Ouyang Xuan also ordered the priority supply of cement so that these fortifications could be entirely poured from concrete. Behind the watchtower is a lag zone composed of woods, thorn bushes, ditches and artificial swamps. Even if the enemy breaks through the naval defense lines and the fortresses on the shore, they will still have to go through this artificial maze that is several miles wide and deep.
Behind the lag zone is a military dock surrounded by several artificial ditches and ponds. These forts have more powerful defensive capabilities. In addition to towers, moats, and suspension bridges, they also have turrets equipped with fortress guns. Ouyang Xuan even wanted to equip these docks with newly developed landmines. The technical content of the research and development of this mine is no higher than that of a new type of musket. Once the problem of the raw material of mercury fulminate is solved, it will not be too difficult to manufacture it after just a lot of experiments. In Ouyang Xuan's vision, these military forts will become Wanjia forts and Hengyuan forts on the plains, which will make enemies who try to swallow them break their teeth and fill their mouths with blood.
